07.09.2000, MEDIAMAX, YEREVAN. The regular meeting of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, fifth in 2000, will take place in New York on September 7 within the framework of the UN “Millenium Summit”.
The first meeting this year took place in January within the CIS summit in Moscow. Then Robert Kocharian and Heydar Aliyev met in February 2000 within the framework of the World Economic Forum in Davos. On June 20 the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Moscow, and then on August 18 in Yalta within the framework of the unofficial summit of the leaders of CIS states. The beginning of direct bilateral negotiations of Kocharian and Aliyev was marked in spring 1999 – two meetings of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan took place then, in Washington, D.C. and Moscow.
After the last meeting in Yalta the president of Armenia Robert Kocharian said that in case of economic cooperation between Yerevan and Baku, the formula of the Karabakh conflict settlement will be found much easier. “If our countries are tied by mutual economic interests, this will help us get rid of unnecessary suspiciousness and will form a favorable atmosphere for the settlement of the conflict”, stressed Robert Kocharian.
The co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk group and the leaders of the co-chairmen states of Minsk group have repeatedly declared that they support the direct dialogue of Kocharian-Aliyev. The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, the Austrian foreign minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner declared in May 2000 in the exclusive interview to MEDIAMAX that the dialogue between the two Presidents is crucial. “The good working relationship between the two leaders has opened a new era of the peace process”, she said. -0-
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